Selling and importing your products into the UK

We understand that selling and exporting products internationally can be challenging, with requirements and guidelines varying for each country. As a brand on Faire, you are the exporter of record. Ensuring your products can be exported, sold and imported for B2B purposes in other countries falls under your responsibility.

We want to help you feel confident selling and shipping to international retailers.

This consists of tips and advice for brands selling and importing products into the UK.

Please note, this list is non-exhaustive and purely indicative.

Documentation for shipping to the UK

As the exporter of record, any brand selling on Faire is responsible for complying with all laws, rules, and regulations in all countries/regions they choose to sell their products to on the platform. This includes but is not limited to: product safety, labelling requirements, testing, warnings, copyright, import/export regulations, and other consumer protection law requirements.

(The retailer is the importer, and is responsible for covering any applicable import duties and taxes at import)

Faire does not provide documentation specific to your products, your company, manufacturing practices or information. This type of documentation has to be provided by yourself as the exporter of record.

For every international order, Faire generates a commercial invoice, populated with the product information in your account.

Please note, depending on the products, additional fields might be required on the commercial invoice; or longer tariff codes (visit Updating your product information for international sales) in this case, we recommend you create your own commercial invoice.

How to determine if your products can be imported and sold in the UK

To determine if your products can be imported sold in the UK, we recommend:

• Consulting legal counsel and/or a customs broker to determine your readiness to export products to a given country.
  • To find out about country specific regulation for tightly controlled categories, consult legal counsel or a customs broker.
• Visiting governmental websites and consulting product specific requirements for importing your products into the UK, visit : Check how to import or export goods
  • As a reminder, your sales territories can be adjusted in your shop settings, to learn more visit Can I control the locations where my shop is live?
  • Ensuring your products packaging and labelling comply with the destination country requirements. To check the latest packaging and labelling requirements for importing, visit : Marking, labelling and marketing standards for imports and exports
• Visiting carrier websites that have helpful and up-to-date Import/Export Country or Territory Regulations guidelines.

Highly regulated product categories in the UK

Some product categories are tightly regulated in the UK, and may require additional documentation for customs purposes.

The most common categories we have noticed are:

• Food and drinks, Food supplements: to learn more, visit the Rules and regulations for importing food for human consumption to Great Britain (GB).
• Products containing animal substances: to learn more, look for information in the UK government’s import export guide
• Cosmetics and skin products : To import cosmetics into the UK, you may register your products with the UK OPSS portal, to learn more, visit guidance on the Office for Product Safety and Standards process
• Textile products and clothing: to learn more, look for information in the UK government’s import export guide
• Plant and seed products: to learn more, visit the UK Plant Health Information Portal
• Pet products : to learn more, look for information in the UK government’s import export guide
• Gemstones, stones and jewellery: to learn more, look for information in the UK government’s import export guide
• Toys : to learn more, visit Statutory guidance and Toys (Safety) Regulations
• Dangerous goods : (Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials.)
  • To check if your products are categorized as dangerous goods, we recommend referring to the shipping carrier classification.
  • If your products are classified as dangerous goods, use Ship on your own.

Please note, this list is non-exhaustive and purely indicative. Faire takes no responsibility in updating these websites, the resources linked are governmental pages only.

• If your products fall under these categories, be aware they may be subject to additional controls, or require more specific information fields on the commercial invoice to ensure smooth import into the UK.
• If required fields are missing in the Faire generated commercial invoice, or your products require additional tariff code digits (see Updating your product information) we recommend you create your own commercial invoice and provide any additional information, certification, documentation required by the country you are shipping to.

Updating your product information

Ensuring the details in your product information are as accurate as possible will ensure the information on the commercial invoice is correct, and help prevent customs issues.

Tariff codes

• Harmonized system (HS) codes (or tariffs) are an international customs classification system used by most trading nations throughout the world. Tariff codes will be required on any cross-border commercial invoices. These are universal codes, you can use any tariff code finder.
• We have listed a few international tariff code finders below:
  • tariff code finder if you ship from the US
  • tariff code finder if you ship from the EU
  • tariff code finder if you ship from the UK

Please note: The Faire generated commercial invoice only supports 6 digit tariff codes, if the products you are shipping require longer tariff codes, we recommend you create your own commercial invoice to ensure import duties are applied correctly for your retailer.

Country of origin of your products

• You will need to set Made in country on a product level if you list products made in different countries to be able to fulfil international orders. This will ensure the right country of origin is surfaced for each product on the commercial invoice, and will prevent customs complications. To learn how to edit this in your product page, visit How do I add or edit products?

EORI (Economic Operators Registration and Identification number) for intra-European shipments

• From an EU country to the UK

• Economic Operators Registration and Identification number (EORI) if you are based in the EU.

What if customs agencies or carriers require additional information to clear my shipments?

If you ship products internationally, and additional information or documentation is required by the country of import for your products, you might be contacted by a customs agent, carrier, or your retailer to provide the necessary information to help clear customs.

Here are a few things to keep in mind :

• You are the exporter. Ensuring your products can be exported, sold and imported for B2B purposes in other countries falls under your responsibility.
• The retailer is the importer and is responsible for complying with all import rules and regulations when importing goods into their country.
• The customs agent and/or carrier may reach out to you via phone, or via Faire support on an email thread if you are using Ship with Faire.
• Faire cannot provide information or certificates for your products to be exported and imported smoothly.
• Orders can typically be stalled at a border for a limited time, (this tends to vary between 3 and 5 days)

If you are unresponsive or fail to provide the required information/documentation/certification, the customs agency may decide to abandon, destroy, or return the shipment to sender. This decision is outside of Faire’s control, and is informed by local regulations, depending on the product types and the ability of a carrier to proceed to Return to Sender.

To prevent these situations from arising, we recommend you follow the guidelines outlined in How to determine if your products can be sold in the UK, and adjust your selling territories in your shop settings accordingly to your readiness to export.

Shipping methods

When shipping an order to the UK, depending on your location and shipping method(s) available, you will have access to:

• Ship with Faire
  • Ship with Faire is currently available to brands in select countries. To learn more, visit Ship with Faire
• Ship on Your Own
  • Ship on your Own isn’t currently available to all brands. Brands shipping from the US can’t use Ship on your own for sending international orders. To learn more, visit Ship on your own

Here are additional resources you can consult to answer shipping related questions:

• Ship with Faire Insurance
• How do I create a commercial invoice?
• How are shipping cost estimates calculated?

Managing shipping options and costs

International shipments can be costly. Here are some important key factors and information to consider when shipping your products internationally:

• Faire does not support pallet shipping through Ship with Faire
• If your products are heavy and/or bulky, selling internationally will automatically result in higher shipping costs. We recommend lowering your order minimum for intercontinental orders. This will help balance the product value / shipping cost ratio.
• We have noticed brands selling heavy and bulky products that have a low to medium price point focus their targeting on more local markets, as the shipping costs associated with selling this type of product internationally does not always allow for margin.
• When using Ship with Faire, Faire will be the account holder in relation to the carrier, but you are still the exporter of record. The guidelines and responsibilities detailed in this article still apply.